Sirius Black and his girlfriend's father
by pathogenicmicroorganism
Summary: Sirius gets to meet his girlfriend's father, brother, cousin, evil little owl who hates him and they're all muggles. Oh, and did I mention her father's in the army?
1. Chapter 1

I know I can!

Summary: Sirius has a girlfriend, Isabella, and she's a muggle. And her dad wants to meet him. For the summer. Her muggle dad, who's in the royal army. Eep.

Chapter One:

"Prongsiiiiieeee!" shouted Sirius as he headed out the backyard. "Prongsiiieee!"

James emerged from one of the bushes, carrying what looked to Sirius as a potato, but he knew better. James was de-gnoming the garden. Sirius shook his head, looking disbelieving at him while the gnome was wriggling to be free. "I don't get it Prongsie," he said, "You have a house elf, why can't you just get him to do it for you?"

James looked at him, smiled and flung the gnome 40 feet towards the small pond out in the end of his property. "Because, unlike you, my dear Padfoot," he said slowly, "I have been told to work for what I've got and not reap in the benefits of a big house and a large amount of savings."

"That hurt Prongsie," said Sirius playfully. Actually, it did hurt a little. He had just ran away from home, and the Potters have welcomed them with open arms. This encouraged him a little. At least there was someone who actually cared about him enough to let him stay with them after he's been officially dubbed homeless.

The last straw came when his mother, a haughty pure blood witch, began to criticize the kind of girlfriend Sirius was having.

"I knew you were a mudblood lover the moment I laid eyes on you," she snapped at him as soon as he came back. "Once again, you have managed to put the family name into shame. I wonder why I actually let you lived!"

Sirius hadn't managed to see his house at all that summer. The confrontation happened as he was being picked up in the station and the comment just made him run away as far as possible from his mother and father. For all he knows it had burned down already and he still wouldn't have a care in the world. All he would wish was that his so-called family would burn down with it.

"Padfoot?" asked James loudly, shaking him a little. "I was only joking, mate. I didn't mean it."

Sirius grinned. "I know Prongsie," he said. "Don't worry about it."

James grabbed another gnome threw it in Sirius' direction. "Prongs, Padfoot, Prongs."

Sirius grinned even wider as he threw the gnome back at him. "Whatever you say, Prongsie."

* * *

They spent the rest of the morning degnoming the garden. Sirius was amazed. The Potter garden looked incredibly neat, with a few spots here and there that was left full of weeds and bushes because Mrs. Potter thought it made the garden looked interesting. This was where the gnomes were hiding, and there were a lot of them. By the end of it, Sirius and James were covered in mud and grass stains, but looking extremely satisfied with themselves. 

They were rewarded for their efforts with a big hearty lunch. Sirius have always admired how good Mrs. Potter cooks that there wasn't a meal that he wouldn't have seconds of. He and James were silent for the entire lunch being so hungry and everything was peaceful until a gentle whoosh came and landed on their table.

It was a pure white owl that was looking - no, glaring at Sirius. Sirius knew this owl well. This was Snowy, Isabella's one and only - therefore favorite - owl.

Isabella is Sirius' girlfriend. They have been together for six months now, and was constantly screaming and then making up in the course of one day. On the rare occasion that they do get along for more than twenty four hours, he or she will cause a scene that will cause them to bicker once again. James was very incredulous of this arrangement.

"It's the way we show our love for each other Prongsie," Sirius said fondly one day, "You just wouldn't understand."

James smiled and shook his head. "That's right Padfoot, I really don't understand."

So it was no surprise when Sirius grinned widely at the owl and took the letter it was haughtingly showing him. It came to no surprise to Sirius that Snowy didn't like it that Isabella now had a boyfriend, though Sirius constantly reminded the owl that no matter what, he, Snowy, would still be her favorite. Still Sirius hasn't managed to bond with Snowy the way Isabella did. Sirius thought that this was because of the fact that every time Snowy lands at the Gryffindor table for a letter for Isabella, they were both shouting at each other and always at the point of throwing all the food that they could lay their hands on. Once, Sirius even managed to grab Snowy to throw at her, only to have Isabella grabbed it away from his grasps and shot him an extremely hurt look. Only when Snowy flew off did they manage to make up and forget the fight ('fight? what fight?' said Isabella) they were having.

"Oh come on, Snow," said Sirius, "don't look at me like that. Bella still loves you."

James sniggered. Sirius knew that he looked ridiculous, reasoning to an owl that was jealous of him. Snowy didn't fly away though, so Sirius suspected that Bella expected him to write back.

Sirius read the letter out loud.

Sirius,

How are you? I have the sneaking suspicion that you didn't go home at all, and that you're at James' place. I hope that I didn't cause another rift between you and your family, being a muggle and all, but judging by the way that they are, I think I already did.

I'm doing fine here, dad and my brothers are glad to see me back. The thing is, they already know about us, owing to the fact that I told them, or more like my brother forced it out of me by threatening torture and reading my diary out loud to the entire community. Well, they want to see you, meet you and get to know over the summer. Why? Because my dad said so, enough said. Lily is here, James is welcome too. Honestly, I think Lily will be happy to see James over, she misses him, only don't tell her I said that. I already invited Remus and he said that he would only go if you two are going, Peter won't be there though, his overprotective grandmother said no.

Anyway, I hope that you can come. Send Snowy back with an answer and I'll be there tomorrow by Floo Powder if you can come.

Oh, and will you please tell Snowy that no one can replace him and he's the best most beautiful owl in the whole entire world?

James, give Sirius a kiss for me.

Miss you.

Isabella.

Sirius turned to Snowy. "Hear that, Snow?" he said. "She wanted you to know that you're the best most beautiful owl in the world!" he then turned to James. "So what do you think?" he asked nervously.

James grinned. "I say we go for it."

Sirius smirked. "You only want to go because Lily will be there."

James had a watery smile in his face. "I know," he said. "she misses me..."

Sirius laughed, but he felt very nervous. He looked down at the letter again and gulped. Her dad wants to meet her, her dad, who's in the army,an army officer noless,and knows how to use muggle weapons that were called, what again? Rayfels?

"Are you actually scared of meeting Bella's dad, Padfoot?" asked James, fighting an urge to lsaugh. Heobviously noticed the nervous look on his face.

Sirius grinned at him nervously. "A bit," he admitted.

That did it. James rolled on the floor, laughing up a storm. Sirius didn't feel any better about the situation. He had never met the fathers of his previous girlfriends, and the fact that he was meeting the father of the woman he loved the most who turned out to be a member of the Royal Army didn't make the situation any less amusing.

Even Mrs. Potter, who listened in as he read the letter, was smiling wryly at Sirius. "Don't worry dear," she said soothingly, "you can be really charming when you have to be, and most especially when you want to be."

This only caused James to laugh even harder. Finally, after many a few more minutes of laughter, James finally stood, wiped the tears from his eyes and grinned at his mum. "So, mum, can we go there for the summer?" he asked, looking extremely hopeful.

Mrs. Potter smile. "Of course, you can, sweetie," she said.

Sirius grinned at him. "Of course you can, sweetie," he imitated Mrs. Potter's voice. "Oh look, there's somefink on your nose, let me wipe it for you tweetums, it won't hurt darling, just a little pinch sweetheart..."

James scowled at him. Mrs. Potter laughed.

Snowy, growing impatient, shrieked loudly. Mrs. Potter conjured a quill and parchment for him as he wrote his answer back.

Yes, Bella, we'd love to come. We'll be here all day tomorrow. James misses Lily too. I miss you too.

Sirius

He tied the letter to Snowy's leg and it flew out into the skies.

"Padfoot," said James slowly.

"What?" said Sirius, looking out the sky.

"You remember what Bella told me at the end of the letter?"

Sirius read the end of the letter. "James, give Sirius a kiss for me..."

He ran all the way out the garden as James pursued him, his lips pursed ready to kiss him the moment he catches him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Padfoot," said James annoyingly with gritted teeth, "would you please _stop pacing_."

Sirius looked at him with an incredulous face. "Pacing?" he said, "I am not pacing." He had stopped in his stracks and remused walking the entire length of the kitchen once again back and forth. James just sighed and looked at the ceiling.

Mrs. Potter, who had dressed up for the occasion today, as she hoped that she would be able to invite Isabella to stay for a bit longer for lunch, smiled at him and said, "I'm afraid that you are pacing dear."

"Your pacing isn't going to help make Isabella come here any faster, Sirius," said Mr. Potter, with an amused smile on his face. He had just come back from the office after a long night of raiding suspected Dark followers. He had missed breakfast, and was eager to catch up on why Sirius looked extremely nervous.

Sirius looked out the window. For the past half an hour, Sirius had been pacing in the kitchen, waiting for Isabella to arrive any minute now. He didn't know when she would be arriving, as she didn't give an exact time, and Sirius had been so caught up in the euphoria that he forgot to ask her what time she planned to arrive.

Last night, he had stayed up late into the night, collecting all his things and packing them neatly and orderly into his trunk, so much so that James was amazed in his ability and managed to convince him to work on his trunk as well.

"Thanks, Padfoot," grinned James, sounding extremely impressed, "Can I tell Lily that I did it on my own?"

Sirius that night didn't even think that it was funny and the fact that James was taking credit for his actions was not bothering him. He absent mindedly said yes as he looked at his trunk, making sure that everything was in a neat clean order.

Sirius barely had any sleep last night, and when he did manage to fall asleep, all he dreamt about was a loud mouthed man in green with a hat and a whistle ordering him to drop down and give him 50. In his dreams, he even asked 50 of what and the man just shouted for him to drop down and give him a hundred. Sirius' first thought when he woke up is that he thought that the guy was crazy if he thinks that he's going to fork over a hundred galleons.

* * *

It was almost noon when they all heard a loud WHOOSH from the fireplace, which meant the arrival of someone. They were just sitting down for lunch and Sirius stood up so fast that he knocked the chair down and sent his bowl of soup flying into James' plate. Sirius ignored James' cries of protest as he ran all the way to the living room, crashing head on to the sofa.

"Er - knock knock?" said Isabella timidly. She saw Sirius hit the sofa and looked like she is fighting the urge to laugh. Sirius stood up and dusted himself as he blushed and grinned in her direction.

Isabella wasn't the prettiest girl in the whole school. Nor is she the most popular or the smartest. She was just a plain simple normal girl who came from a muggle family who happened to have magical powers.

Yes, that seems normal to Sirius.

He grinned even more widely at her as she came out of the fireplace.

Isabella grinned at the whole lot of them, for they had just come in after him. James muttered a spell to dry of his clothers and Sirius distinctly heard 'clumsy git'. Sirius smirked at James' direction, and then gave an apologetic look, then turned quickly to Isabella, who was still grinning at them. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter," she said, beaming at them. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Mrs. Potter smiled warmly at her. "And we are pleased to have finally seen you," she said. "Is Lily coming?"

James ran to her, grabbed her by the arms andshook her eagerly. "Yeah, is Lily coming?"

Sirius grabbed James' arm. "Lay off, Prongsie," said Sirius, though not dangerously. He knew James better than that.

"Oops, sorry mate," he said. Grinning sheepishly, he gave and apologetic look and let go of Isabella who rubbed her shoulders.

Sirius took her and put a hand over her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked softly.

Isabella smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, as she rested her head on his chest. "I missed you."

Sirius kissed her forehead. "I missed you too," he said.

James glared at the both of them, his hands crossed over his chest. "When you two stop being lovey dovey, maybe you can tell us if Lily is coming!"

WHOOSH.

Isabella raised an eyebrow at James. "Does that answer your question?"

James grinned excitedly towards the fireplace as Lily came grinning widely in front of her and quickly losing it as soon as she saw James standing in front of her, with his arms wide open. But Sirius didn't pay any attention to that, he grabbed Isabella by the shoulders and stood her in front of him, readying her for his inspection.

He always did this every morning while they were still at school. When Isabella asked why, he answered that he was making sure that she had stayed the same from the about 8 hours ago. Isabella just rolled her eyes at his answer but conceded to the inspection as she had no other choice.

Isabella's head curiously followed Sirius as he walked around her a few times, often commenting on one thing or the other. Sirius was taking in her every detail. She looked pretty much the same, her black curly hair was longer and her curls much more bouncier, her eyes, the same sparkling green, she was a little fairer now than last June, making a deeper contrast between her face and her hair, making her only more beautiful to Sirius' eyes.

"You'd lost weight," he said, grabbing her waist.

Isabella grinned. "I know," she said, "ain't it grand?"

But Sirius frowned. "But you didn't need to lose weight, you were fine just the way you were."

Isabella scoffed. "Last week of school you told me I was fat." she said.

Sirius shrugged. "I was wrong," he said.

James' head whipped into their direction, his mouth fell open. "Padfoot," he asked, "you, wrong!"

Even Isabella had to laugh. Sirius waited for them to stop laughing, although he did smile. He was notoriously known for his pride and often times refused to admit that he was wrong, which is often the cause of his fights with Isabella.

At this point, Isabella pouted. "You don't like?" she asked, pointing to her stomach.

Sirius grinned. "Oh, I like, I like very much."

Isabella grinned at him, and looked over his shoulder. As she wasn't as tall as he was, she stood on tip toe to be able to see pass his shoulder.. "Lily's gagging." she said.

Sirius turned to James and Lily. Lily was indeed gagging, and James had a mischievous look in his eye. Whatever they were talking about, Sirius could tell that they were getting along.

"So," said Isabella, "are you ready?"

Sirius gulped. "Is your father strict?" he asked nervously.

"Aww, honey, you're nervous." cooed Isabella.

"Is he?"

"Don't worry about it Sirius, I'm sure he likes you," she said reassuringly, "I promise if he gets out of hand, I'll stop him."

"But he's part of the Royal Army!" cried Sirius, "aren't they the most strict people around?"

Isabella nodded. "True," she said, "but you're forgetting something."

"What?"

"I'm the daughter of the soldier," she said, "his _one _and _only_ daughter."

"She's got you there, Sirius," said Mr. Potter, watching amusedly by the doorway with Mrs. Potter.

Sirius was confused. "What?"

Isabella smiled at him. "Sirius," she said, "I'm his only daughter, his one and only daughter, therefore his favorite. I could get away with murder, just like that" -she snapped her fingers and prodeced a short sharp sound- "not that I'm planning any murders or anything." she added hastily. Sirius had told her that Mr. Potter is an Auror.

Sirius was still skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Cross you heart, hope to die?"

"Cross my heart, hope to die," said Isabella placing an imaginary cross where her heart is. Sheturned to James, who had a confused look in his face, "It's a muggle thing." she said.

"Oh," said James, who nodded like he knew what she was talking about. Behind him, Lily just smiled at James, and Sirius thought that there was a rather curious look in her eyes.

Sirius took Isabella's hands. "Just promise me, that whatever you do, whatever happens, that you won't leave me alone with your father." he said, rather desperately.

Everyone in the room laughed. Isabella giggled, and looked at him with her eyes sparkling. "I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

After a hearty lunch, in which everyone took seconds and Sirius thirds, and all complimented Mrs. Potter for her fabulous cooking, they all headed into the living room by the fireplace to get ready to leave.

"Remus said that he'll meet us at home tonight," said Isabella, grinning at Sirius and James, "it should be fun, don't you think?"

Sirius' heart was hammering through his chest and nodded quickly. Isabella must have sensed that he was nervous as she took his hand and squeezed it tighty.

"Don't worry," she said to him, giving him a small smile. "It's going to be fine."

Sirius relaxed a little bit and smiled at her. This was what Sirius loved about her the most. He could be under the threat of strangulation, either from Mr. Filch or Professor Dunsworth or Snape, but she could always find a way to calm him down and ensure him, that no matter what will happen in the whole wide world, he will be fine and that she would always be at his side.

He nodded as he smiled at her. "Thanks, love," he said quietly.

Isabella turned to Mr. and Mrs. Potter and grinned broadly at them. "Thank you for the lovely lunch, Mr. and Mrs. Potter," she said.

Lily nodded eagerly. "Yes, thank you, it was really delicious."

James grinned broadly at his parents. "Isn't she just perfect for this family?" he asked eagerly.

Lily just shook her head, though Sirius was sure that there was a small smile playing on her face. Isabella must have noticed too, because she turned to him and her eyes were asking if he saw it too. Sirius just nodded, making Isabella grin widely and knowledgeably.

"We'll make sure that James and Sirius gets to the train for Hogwarts next summer, Mr. and Mrs. Potter," said Isabella.

Mrs. Potter smiled at her. "Thank you dear," she said, "And you're more than welcome to come over and stay for Christmas this year dear."

Mr. Potter looked at Lily. "You too, Lily," he said.

James looked eagerly at Lily and was nodding at her direction. Sirius thought that she was on the verge of saying no, so he nudged Isabella on the shoulder and pointed at Lily.

She must have gotten the message because she turned quickly to Mrs. Potter and said quickly, "we would love to stay for Christmas, Mrs. Potter, won't we Lily?"

Lily glared at Isabella, but she didn't have any time to answer, because James had been jumping up and down, all his dignity forgotten as he hugged Lily tightly.

Lily blushed and wriggled her way free from James' hold. "Let go, Po - James!" she said. Sirius thought that it was classy of her to not refer to James by his family name in front of his parents. James however, thought that this meant that his relationship, or lack of one, with Lily was progressively moving on, as he grinned wider and once again attempted to hug her, only for Lily to spot what he intended to do right away and moved quickly towards the direction of the fireplace. James just managed to make sure that he wouldn't fall by clutching onto the nearest chair his hands found.

She grabbed one end of James' trunk. "Help me out," she said to James. James took the other end and placed it in the already green fire. Lily gave a cheery wave goodbye, yelled "3 Civic Lane!" and disappeared with a whoosh.

James kissed his mother quickly and jumped onto the fireplace. "Love you mean it," he said as fast as he could, then, "3 Civic Lane!" and he too disappeared with a whoosh. Sirius sniggered. No doubt James wanted to spend some time with Lily by himself.

Isabella turned to Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and smiled. "Thanks again for the lunch," she said, "and for letting us take them away so soon."

Mr. Potter smiled. "You're welcome," he said, "just watch out for them, they can be devilishly tricky blighters."

Isabella sighed and looked at Sirius, and then turned to the Potters with a tired look at her face. "You have no idea." she said. Sirius nudged her playfully and she gave him a playful wink.

Mrs. Potter laughed. "Do take care of yourself, won't you dear?" she said, "Oh and Sirius, make sure that James doesn't cause too much trouble there."

"The same goes for you," added Mr. Potter.

Sirius grinned. "You can trust us Mr. and Mrs. Potter," he said broadly, "we'll be perfect little angels."

Isabella snorted, but said nothing.

Finally, after one last hug from Mrs. Potter, Sirius quickly followed Isabella back to her home, and gulped as he realized that in a few seconds, he was about to meet her father.

It was too late to go back.

* * *

When Sirius opened his eyes, he found himself facing a fairly large room that had all the windows opened to let the sun in, making the room very very cheerful. It's walls were painted a pale yellow, and the furniture complimented everything perfectly. He could see a set of chairs that were made of wood and a small coffee table with a lot of magazines in it. There was also a fair amount of lamps that were all made of wood and sitting in the biggest couch of all was a man who had his eyebrows raised in his direction. 

Sirius stood up quickly and dusted off the dust particles in the fireplace before stepping out in the clean floor. He turned to his left and saw that Isabella, Lily and James were all looking at him, with a funny expression. James gave him a wink and looked towards the direction of the man.

There had to be no other explanation for it. This had to be Isabella's father. Sirius pictured him to be a lot bigger, with hair perfectly in place and - he thought with a snigger - a thick brown moustache. But this was not what the man looks like. He had sandy brown hair, Sirius thought that it looked like Remus' hair, only his was much longer and thinner. He also saw that he had green eyes, in exactly the same shape and shade as Isabella's and the same skin tone. When he stood up, Sirius gulped. He looked refined and in shape. Sirius thought that this is what the Minister of Magic should look like.

"Hello, Mr. Stonewall," said Sirius, trying to keep his voice casual. "I'm Sirius Black." He reached out for a handshake.

Mr. Stonewall didn't smile and took it. He looked at him up and down intentionally, and as if he made sure that Sirius saw everything that he was doing, making Sirius squirm more than ever. "Hello, Sirius," he said, his voice very low, and Sirius thought, very dangerous. "Isabella had told me all about you."

Sirius gave Isabella a look, at which Isabella gave an apologetic smile while Lily and James sniggered. Sirius thought that Isabella gave her father a glare of some sorts, that he just ignored. Sirius gave a weak smile, but resisted the temptation to keep his head low and willed himself to look straight at Mr. Stonewall's eyes. "I'll make sure that I don't disappoint her, sir," he said very politely, "nor you, sir."

Mr. Stonewall gave a curt nod, and turned to James. "James here tells me that you have a knack for causing trouble," he said sternly.

Sirius turned to James and gave him a glare, at which James returned a very innocent look.

"Is this true?" said Mr. Stonewall

"Er..." said Sirius.

"Dad, you're scaring him." said Isabella bluntly, her arms crossed over her chest and glaring at her father with a small pout in her face. "You promised not to do anything to him."

Sirius looked at Mr. Stonewall, who smiled at his daughter. The effect of the smile was enormous. Sirius thought that he looked quite intimidating, even without the uniform, but the smile made him look like the most caring father in the world, and at the same time, the most protective. Sirius thought that this is what a father should look like.

Sirius laughed inwardly at his thoughts. So far he's compared Mr. Stonewall to a proper Minister for Magic and a great father. _Yeah, you're really setting yourself up well Padfoot,_ he thought, gulping and trying to hide a smile at the same time.

"I know, honey," said Mr. Stonewall softly, "I just want to make sure that the right person is with my beautiful and understanding daughter."

"You're sucking up, dad," said Isabella with a playful grin.

Mr. Stonewall looked at her daughter. "I don't like your tone, young lady," he said slowly, at which Isabella quickly lost her grin and quickly and sharply apologized. Mr. Stonewall nodded and then turned to Sirius with a small smile in his face. "Have you ever hurt my daughter?"

"No sir, I would never hurt her." said Sirius quickly, looking at him straight in the eye.

Sirius saw at the corner of his eye that James was about to say something, probably one of the many times that Isabella and Sirius had shouting matches that were sure to be legend all over school. But thankfully, Lily shot him a look that clearly meant 'shut up'. James clearly got the message and closed his mouth as Sirius sighed with relief.

"Well, we know they shout at each other a lot," said a voice that just arrived from the kitchens.

There were three of them, all boys that came out from the kitchen. They had to be Isabella's brothers. The first one, the one who spoke was the tallest among the three had the same brown hair as his father but he had different eyes, brown ones and a mischievous smile on his face. The other two looked almost identical, with the same hair color and complexion, but the second one had brown eyes and the third, green.

Sirius looked curiously at Isabella. She was the only one in the family that had black hair...

"How come you have black hair?" asked James loudly, voicing out Sirius' thought.

Isabella smiled. "Mother's side," she said and that was enough. Everyone in the room knew that her mother had died a long time ago, while giving birth to her. It was only last year that she was able to let go of the guilt that she was feeling. She thought that it was all her fault that her mother died and that she was a bad daughter and should have died instead of her. Sirius helped her to let go of the guilt and soon afterwards, Sirius received a letter from her father expressing his gratitude for whatever he did and that they had never seen Isabella happier.

But this was different, this was meeting her father, face to face. Her father would be able to see him fidget, squirm and feel awkward, and Sirius was sure that Isabella's father didn't like anyone who was all squeamish and queasy around him or his daughter.

"Sirius," said Isabella, "these are my brothers: Jack, Jason, and Jonathan."

Jack, the boy who spoke, took Sirius' hand and shook it. "So, you're Sirius Black huh?"

Sirius nodded.

"Isabella's been talking about you all summer," said Jason, the second boy with brown eyes, "she was getting really annoying really. That's why you're here. We told her that we should meet you and see what she's been fussing about for the past two weeks."

"And she already warned us not to work on you too hard," said the final boy, with the green eyes. "Like we'd ever tortured any of her boyfriends." he added with a glare to Isabella, who stuck out her tongue.

"Well, there was that one," said Jack thoughtfully, looking at the ceiling. "The one who we thought was gay."

"And the one before that," said Jason mischievously, "the one with the long hair and the annoying laugh."

"Yeah, and the one after the first one," said Jonathan with a great big sigh and turned to his sister with disbelief in his eyes, "he was really annoying."

Sirius gulped, and made a mental note to chop his hair off, not laugh to loudly and be as manly as possible.

"Guys!" said Isabella indignantly. She held Sirius' hand. "Don't worry about them, they're just idiots." she said, "And don't cut your hair, I like it that way."

Sirius gave a weak smile, as the three boys looked at him and had their eyebrows raised, as if inspecting him for one thing or the other.

"He seems alright," said Jonathan slowly, eyeing him up and down checking for any damages in Sirius' exterior. Sirius felt like a mannequin.

"Not like that last one," said Jack.

"Yeah, that one was a nightmare." said Jason. He turned to Isabella. "Glad to see our sister's finally developing taste."

Isabella scowled at him, but smiled at Sirius. "You passed." she said.

"Passed what?" said Sirius. Isabella's brothers were already working on James, as they surrounded him, giving the odd comment or another, and most of it about James' hair.

"Can't you fix it?" asked Jason.

"Believe me, everyone's tried." said James.

Lily giggled.

Isabella and Sirius gaped at her. After a few more second, Sirius turned to Isabella again. "Passed what?"

"Their test." said Isabella. "My past boyfriends didn't pass in the first day and they had to leave the next day or be tortured by my brothers with no mercy."

Sirius gulped. "So will I be tortured?"

"Oh yes," said Isabella as if this meant nothing whatsoever, "but don't worry, they won't torture you until you run screaming for your mummy."

Sirius snorted, "Like I'd ever do that."

"Exactly."

"Didn't you say that you have four brothers?" said Sirius.

Isabella nodded. "My youngest brother is Dillan," she said, "well the truth is he's really our cousin and his parents died in an accident when he was little, so full custody went to us."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Isabella waved it off. "Oh, that's okay," she said. "we haven't told him yet, since he's only 5, but when he get to be around 10 we'll tell him. He knows that his parents are gone though, and we made sure that he knows that his parents loved him and still does very much."

Sirius smiled. He loved this family, and couldn't help but feel and wish that his family was like this too. He absolutely loved the family dynamic.

"What?" asked Isabella.

Sirius shook his head. "Nothing."

They just looked at each other for a few seconds, a smile on both their faces, not realizing that her three brothers were not paying any attention to them anymore, nor that Mr. Stonewall was looking at them curiously, nor the fact that Jason and Jack had just started pulling on James hair, ignoring Lily's protests for them to stop. Jonathan merely insisted that they were doing the right thing and that it was for James' own good.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

It's been almost a week since Sirius James and Remus stayed over Isabella's home. Remus apparated his way there the same night Sirius and James took the Floo Network and wondered how Isabella managed to get a muggle home into the network.

"There was this form that they gave me," she explained the day after he arrived. "You pay 2 galleons and they let the muggle home be part of the Floo Network for a day, as long as there's a witch or a wizard present."

Sirius was starting to enjoy himself, although he was still a little apprehensive about spending some time alone with Mr. Stonewall. It was also hard to get Isabella alone in the house, most of the time, one of her older brothers would just pop up out of nowhere whenever Sirius would try to kiss Isabella. He was almost beginning to think that they were watching his every move when Isabella gave them one look and they all backed away.

"You know," said Sirius, pouting slightly, "I'm not a mentally challenged sociopath."

"You could have fooled us, Sirius," said a voice. When he turned around, it was Remus with James and Lily, who was carrying a large tray of cookies.

"Cookies," said Lily, grinning, "I baked them myself."

Isabella grinned and took a cookie quickly and handed it to Sirius. Sirius looked awkwardly at Lily. "Er.." he said, "is it safe to eat?"

Lily gave him such a McGonagall like glare that Sirius crammed the entire large cookie in his mouth in one bite and muffled something that he wished Lily would take as a compliment.

"Don't mind him, Lils," said James, glaring slightly at Sirius and then grinning at Lily, "I think that these are the best most delicious cookies in the whole entire world, and that I could eat it all day knowing that this was made by your loving hands and your - "

"All right, Potter," said Lily blushing slightly, "I get it."

James smiled at her.

"And thank you."

James grinned at her.

Sirius gaped at them. When he looked at Isabella, she stopped, stunned in mid chew and Remus was curiously looking from James to Lily, as if waiting to see what would happen next.

It was Isabella who first came out of the trance. "Aww, look at you two," she said swooning as she grabbed for another cookie and leaning her head on Sirius' shoulder. "Don't they look cute, Sirius?"

Lily looked at her. "What are you talking about Bella?"

Remus stared at her. "Even I know what you two are doing."

James blushed slightly but didn't answer. Sirius sniggered at his best friend. He knew that he had always loved Lily, he said so the minute that he saw her, and he had been pursuing her for the past seven years. He thought that it was high time that James gets a chance with Lily, just one date, maybe then Lily would realize just how much James had fallen for her.

"What are we doing, Remus?" asked Lily.

"You're bonding!" said Remus and Isabella together.

"You were having a moment, Lils," added Sirius.

Lily stuttered to form an answer, but before Sirius got to hear it, Jason came striding in from the kitchen and headed towards them, obviously with a purpose.

"Sirius," he said.

Sirius turned. "Yeah?" he asked, rather apprehensively.

"Dad wants to talk to you."

Isabella stood up. "Why?"

Jason shrugged. "Dunno." he said. "He wants to talk to him **alone**."

Sirius gulped, and turned to Isabella. He stood up and she accompanied her to the living room. "Don't worry," she said, "dad's not going to eat you alive."

"You don't think so?"

"I know so," said Isabella reassuringly. "He'll just have a few questions, answer them as truthfully as possible."

"And don't stutter," said Jason.

"Jason!"

Jason shrugged. "Well, he shouldn't!" he said. "And salute when you see him."

"Jason!"

"Okay," said Jason, "so maybe you shouldn't salute. But keep a cool and calm head and everything will be fine."

Isabella stared at him. "Jason, do you actually approve of Sirius?"

Sirius looked at him. He had liked Jason among the three older brothers. He was the most fun and kept criticizing James' hair and playing jokes on Isabella. At the same time, he was always checking that Isabella was alright and that she was always having fun and often wondered and stared at her whenever he felt that she gets too quiet.

Jason shrugged. "I guess he's rubbing off me," he said casually, "he's a lot better than your ex boyfriends that's for sure." He leaned down to Sirius. "She had horrible taste before you, believe me," he whispered.

"I heard that!"

But Sirius didn't pay any more attention to Jason's retaliation, for he was bring pushed into the living room, where Mr. Stonewall was sitting on his armchair and studying him while smoking a pipe.

Sirius almost took Jason's advice to salute, only to remember that it was joke and quickly made his arm stock still to his said.

"Hello, Sirius," said Mr. Stonewall warmly, putting the pipe down. "Come sit down."

Sirius sat down on the couch facing Mr. Stonewall and said, "you wanted to talk to me sir?"

"Come now, there's no need for the formalities," he said lightly, "I just wanted to ask you questions regarding my daughter."

Sirius' ability to become an Animagus had always paid off dividends for him. He could hear the others hissing at each other from the kitchen. They were obviously trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, but Sirius forced his mind away from that. "I'd be happy to answer anything that you want answered. sir."

Mr. Stonewall nodded. "Good, good," he said. "Now, what are your intentions with my daughter?"

Sirius gulped. "Intentions, sir?" he asked.

"Intentions," repeated Mr. Stonewall. "What do you see in her? What are your plans? Do you plan to leave her anytime soon?

"Mr. Stonewall, I have nothing but the best intentions for your daughter!" said Sirius indignantly, "I always try to give her the very best of anything that she desires. Obviously since we are young I cannot give her everything that she wants, but I would never try to hurt her in any way or make her cry! I have never made her cry in our entire relationship, and if I can help it sir, I will make sure that not a drop of tear falls from her eyes."

Mr. Stonewall raised an eyebrow. "Those are pretty strong words from a seventeen year old."

"I have very strong feelings for Isabella, sir," said Sirius, "I like her, I like her a lot. I would go out on the limb to say that I love her. I know that that is a pretty strong thing to say" - for Mr. Stonewalls eyebrows were both raised now - "but I would give up everything to make her happy, and to know that she would always be happy."

"It sounds like a speech that you've made too often."

"I do not make speeches about the people I love, sir." said Sirius. "James, Remus and Lily are some of my dearest and closest friends, and I would do anything for them to be happy and most especially when it comes to Isabella. We have a good strong relationship, sir, and I would be very stupid if I mess it up now."

"Are you stupid?"

Sirius huffed indignantly. He didn't like where this conversation was going. "Sir, I am not stupid," he said calmly, with every fiber of dignity in his voice, "I came here to see if you think that I am worthy enough to have a meaningful and wonderful relationship with your daughter, and if you ask me sir, I think I deserve to have your daughter by my side. I believe that she is very happy with me and I am very, very happy with her. Besides, I am not the only one who is in this relationship. This isn't about me. This is about us, and the only way that we can make this work out is if we work through it together, and believe me, sir, I intend to make this work out."

Sirius thought that he heard clapping from the other side of the door, but he didn't care. He just wanted to answer the next question and prove that he deserves to be in Isabella's life. Mr. Stonewall looked deep in thought and he smiled at Sirius, which startled Sirius a bit, because he thought that this was such a serious conversation.

"I believe you, Sirius," he said, "I saw the way that my daughter looks at you, and I am old enough to know and understand that you mean to her as much as we do. I am not a cruel father, Sirius. I do not intend to mean you or your relationship harm. But as a father, she is my one and only daughter, the only link I have to her mother. Do you know that she is the splitting image of her mother?"

"I didn't sir," said Sirius quietly, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," said Mr. Stonewall. "It is her very face that keeps me going. In her I see my wife, the love of my life, and in her I see the love and care that she had bestowed upon Isabella.

"I believe that you are perfect for my daughter, I do. I can see the love in her eyes when she looks at you, and the smile that forms in her face every time you make or do something funny. And I have seen the way you look at her, with love, not lust, and with caring, and I know, by the way that you look at her, that you will take care of her to your last dying breath.

"However, you are only seventeen," and here Mr. Stonewall's voice becomes very stern. "I do not want to know that you two are taking things fast. I am a father, Sirius, I would know when things are wrong. You two have plenty of time to be together, and to plan out the rest of your lives properly. As a father, I implore you to take care of my daughter, and make sure that no harm comes upon her.

"Do I make myself clear?"

Sirius didn't know what to say. If he had just heard right, her father had just given him his blessing. Sirius' insides were starting to relax and unravel. It was all right, he approved of the relationship. He knows that it was okay! Sirius grinned at Mr. Stonewall and nodded, not sure what to say to him after he had spoken so eloquently and elegantly. Now he knows where Isabella gets her fantastic and elegant vocabulary. If his fathers talks like this, then he would sound regal and refined as well.

"Oh, and one more thing," said Mr. Stonewall, "are you gay?"

Sirius stared.

"Daddy!" said Isabella indignantly, bursting in from the kitchens. "That is not funny!"

"Yes it was," said Jonathan, who had just come out of the other side of the house. "I thought it was very funny."

Isabella was heartily arguing with Jonathan, but Sirius was barely taking in a word she was saying. All he thought about was that he was practically part of the family now, and that he was accepted and that Isabella loves him...

"Congrats, mate," said James, patting him in the back. "That was some speech. You too, Mr. Stonewall."

Lily nodded. "It was very romantic." she said.

"It was very moving," said Remus, who was grinning broadly, "Isabella was jumping from giddiness all over the kitchen was James was applauding your performance - not that it's all an act Mr. Stonewall," added Remus hastily. "I know Padfoot (Mr. Stonewall already knows their nicknames), he loves Isabella very much."

James was looking at Lily with an odd smile in his face.

"What?" said Lily.

"Nothing," said James.

Isabella hugged Sirius tightly. "You were awesome," she said.

Sirius hugged her back tightly. "I know."


End file.
